Sheet registering mechanism



Oct. 9, 1934. F. l.. cRoss 1,976,601

'SHEET REGISTERING MECHANISM l A Filed Feb. 13, 19.53 2 sheets-shea l1 IPatented Oct. 9, 1934 PATENT oFFicE SHEET REGISTERING MECHANISM Frank L.Cross, Port Washington, N. Y., assignor to Cross Paper Feeder Company,Boston, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 13,1933, Serial No. 656,518 15 Claims. (Cl. 271-59) 'Ihe object of thepresent invention is to produce a sheet moving device, particularlyuseful for side registering sheets upon -a conveyor frame, which will bedelicate in its action so as to leave no mark upon printed sheets `andwhich will be upon.

In its preferred form of an improved sheet registering mechanism theinvention comprises relatively movable sheet engaging rollers supportedin the path of sheets `with means for moving one of the rollers towardand away from the other, into and out of engagement with a sheet,suitable cam controlled stored power, such as an adjustable torsionalspring, -arranged to rotate one of said rollers-and a sheet registeringgage which arrests the action of the rollers when the sheet reaches itsregistered position.l It is desirable to provide upper and lower paperconning guide surfaces between the sheet moving instrument and theregistering gage to restrict to a minimum'the buckling or Wrinkling'ofthe sheet as it is registered. One of these guide surfaces is preferablyadjustable toward the other, and it has been found convenient to mountthe adjustable guide surface upon the support of the movable sheetengaging roller, although this specie arrangement is not essential tothe practical oper-ation of -my invention.

In order that the invention may be fully understood, it will first bedescribed with reference to the laccompanying drawings and the noveltyafterwards pointed out more particularly in the vannexed claims.

In said drawings vFigure 1 is a plan View of a preferred form of theinvention embodied in an improved sheet registering mechanism;

Figure 2 is a Vertical longitudinal sectional view of the same taken onthe line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a rear view of the same;

Figure 4 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4 4 ofFigure 3; and

Figure 5 is a detail perspective View illustrating the elements of themechanism in operation.

The improved sheet moving mechanism is illustrated in a form in whichit'will be used as a side registering mechanism upon a sheet conveyorbetween an automatic feeder and a press, but it will be understood thatthe specific arrangement and details of construction Iare not essentialbut may abe varied to meet the requirements of different applications ofthe invention. Y In the mechanism as shown in the drawings, 1 representspart of a side frame of a usual form of conveyor in which the sheetconveying tapes, sheet guides and sheet registering devices are mountedin a manner well understood. The only parts of this usual mechanismnecessary for illustrating the present invention are the transverseframe bar 2 and the transverse cam shaft 3 which extend transversely vofand are mounted in the conveyor frame; the frame bar 2 being rigidlymounted in the sideframe, while the shaft 3 is suitably journalled inthe side frame, one of the bearings being indicated at 4.

The frame bar 2 carries a main lower bracket 5 which is adjustabletransversely of the conveyor frame by means of 'set screws, one of whichis indicated at 6. This lower bracket 5 carries a base plate 7 forming alower guide surface in the plane of feed of sheets on the conveyor, theside portion of sheetsprojecting over said plate 7 to be acted upon bythe sheet moving registering devices presently to be described. Baseplate 7 has a downwardly curved lip 8 at its sheet receiving end and abearing 9 for the shaft 3 adjacent its rear edge. Y

Extending atright angles to and beneath supporting bar 2 and shaft 3 isa stub shaft 10 rigidly secured in the bracket. 5 by pins 11 and havingfreely journalled upon it adjacent to bracket 5 the lower Vfrictionalfeed wheel 12, which projects through the slot 7a of base plate 7 withthe highest part of its periphery in the plane of feed of sheets. 'Ihisfeed wheel 12 is confined upon the fixed shaft 10 by means of a collar13 secured by pin 14, and a torsion spring encircles the collar 13 andshaft 10 and has its inner end secured by screw 16 to the face of themain feed wheel 12. The outerend of fixed stub shaft 10 is of reduceddiameter as shown at 17 and freely mounted upon this reduced shaft endis a knurled collar 18 having. the outer end of torsion spring 15secured to it as shown at 19. The collar 18 has an outwardly presentedcircular iiange 20 formed with a series of radial notches 21 in which isadapted to engage the pin 22 passing diametrically through the outer endof reduced portion 17 of shaft 10. By pressing collar 18 inwardly uponthe reduced shaft end 17 the fiange 20 is disengaged from the projectingvends ofy pin 22 so the collar 18 can be turned upon the shaft forincreasing or decreasing the tension of the spring 15. When the desiredadjustment has been made, the collar 18 is again allowed to moveoutwardly to cause notches of flange 2O to again lock with the pin 22.

The main feed wheel 12 carries upon its face adjacent to itsperiphery ananti-friction roller 23 journalled upon a stud 24. This anti-frictionroller 23 is engaged by the inner end of a slide 25 which is preferablyof dovetail cross-section and supported in the dovetail guideway 26 ofthe guide plate 27 supported beneath the base plate 7 parallel with thevertical plane of operation of the main feed wheel 12. ,f

The slide bar 25 carries at its outer end a freely journalledanti-friction roller 28 journalled upon stud 29 and operating normallyin the cam groove 3() of the barrel cam 3l mounted upon the shaft 3above referred to. The cam 31 is adjustably splined upon the shaft 3 andto tie the cam and its operated mechanism together in operative relationa plate 32 engages an annular groove 33 and is secured to the end of theguide plate 27 by means of set screw 34. In this way it will be observedthat the cam 31 will be caused to slide upon its shaft when themechanism is adjusted upon the supporting bar 2.

An upper bracket 35 has its supporting flange 36 screwed to the baseplate 7 by means of screws 37. This bracket 35 is formed with arearwardly presented vertical guideway 38 in which reciprocates asliding block 39 engaged by machine screws 40 passing through a slideplate 41 operating upon the forwardly presented vertical base of bracket35. These machine screws 40 operate in a vertical slot or guideway r42of bracket 35. The inner edge of the guideway 38 carries a wear piece orshim 43 held against the guide block 39 by machine screws 44 and locknuts 45.

'Ihe sliding block 39 is formed with a downwardly presented yoke 46 opentransversely of the conveyor frame and supporting an upper guide plateand an upper feed roller as will now be explained. 47 is the upper guideplate having the upwardly curved lipv 48 at its receiving end'and theintegral perforated upwardly presented ears or lugs 49 which are engagedby a machine screw 50 passing through the lower perforated wallsl of theyoke 46 and the ears 49 of guide plate 47. The machine screw 50 has ashouldered reduced end passing through the rear ear 49 and wall of yoke46, said parts being clamped against the screw shoulder by the. nut 51threaded thereon. The upper guide plate 47 is formed with a verticalslot or opening 52 in registry with the slot 7a of the base plate 7 andoperating in the slot 52v of upper plate 47 is an upper feed roll 53which is freely journalled upon the screw 50 between the ears 49 of theupper guide plate and is periodically lowered into peripheral engagementwith spring actuated roller 12. Any suitable means may be provided foradjusting the upper plate 47 upon its support. The openings throughwhich bolt 50 passes may be slightly larger than the external diameterof the bolt to permit. slight vertical adjustment. The parts may beclamped securely in adjusted position by screws such as 65 passingthrough the walls of yoke 46 into engagement with ears 49. Plate 47 mustbe parallel with base plate 7 with their surfaces close enough togetherto properly support the sheet against buckling or wrinkling.

The slide block 39 is also formed with a transverse guideway 54 in itsrear face nearv its upper end in which operates an anti-friction roller55 journalled on the inner end of a rock arm 56 of a bell crank lever 57journalled upon the bolt 58 threaded into the bracket frame 35. Thevertical arm 59 of bell crank lever 57 carries on its lower end a freelyjournalled anti-friction roller 60 which operates upon the cam 61 cut inthe inner face of the barrel cam above referred to.

The spring 62 connects the'arm 56 of bell crank lever 57 with arm 63adjustably secured to the bracket 35 for maintaining the bell cranklever operation upon cam 61 and permitting the vertical reciprocation ofthe sliding block 39 with the parts attached thereto.

A suitable side registering gage is provided, preferably in the form ofa gage plate secured to the upper face of base plate 7 by means ofcountersunk screws 71. The gage plate may be formed with verticalnotches in its gaging face indicated at 72 into which project thetongues 47a of the top guide plate 47, to prevent the registry edge of asheet accidentally passing between the guide plate 47 and the gage. y y

The operation of the improved sheet registering mechanism will be clearfrom the following explanation. With the registering mechanism mountedupon the conveyor frame at one side of the path of sheets it will beunderstood that the sheet indicated at S passes forwardly upon theconveyor with one lateral edge between the base plate 7 and the topguide plate 47, the sliding block 39 supporting .the drop roller 53 andupper guide plate 47 raised above the base plate 7 sufi-lciently toallow the sheet to pass freely between these plates. Whenthe sheetreaches the front gages of the press the cam 61 lowers roller 53 andplate 47 upon the sheet, the'lower springy driven feed roll 12 beingheld in its spring restrained position by the cam controlled bar 25.Immediately followingthis position of parts the cam 30 allows bar 25l tomove outwardly permitting the stored spring power 15 to rotate roller 12`and move the sheet outwardly tofthe'registering gage 70 because of thefrictional engagement induced by pressure upon the sheet by drop roller53. lWhen the edge of the sheet reaches the gage 70 its movement willstop and also further movement of roller.12 will be arrested, the sheetbeing confined between the guide surfaces 7 and 47 so closely that'therewill be no material buckling or wrinkling of the sheet between rollers53" and 12 and the gage and the sheet having sufficient strengthwtorestrain the spring powers/The tension of the spring power 15 will benicely adjusted to suit the strength of the sheet projecting between therollers and the gage. The sheet is maintained in this registeredposition momentarily when the drop roller 53 and plate k47 areelevated'and the cam controlled bar 25 forces the lower roller 12 backto its former position, and thereby restoresthe spring power to itsnormal working tension, the registered sheet being, in the meantime,taken from the conveyor frame by the press grippers.

Thenormal spring-induced rotary stroke of the roller 12 will besufficient to move a sheet the maximum distance found necessary inpractice for registering, and, it will be understood, that registeringgage and holding the roller against motion for the unused part of thepossible maximum stroke. 1

In the operation of this improved mechanism there is no slippage of thefeed rollers upon the sheet and the peripheries ofthe upper and lowerrollers can be so shaped as to provide an enlarged point contact betweenthe rollers and the sheet with the result that there is no objectionablemarking of even the finest printed sheet at the point of engagement ofthe registry mechanism. This result is further ensured by the simplicityof the mechanism permitting the parts to be made of a minimum weightwhich reduces the inertia to a minimum in the registering operation.

I claim:-

1. The combination of a sheet moving instrument, resilient meansnormally urging said instrument to act, upon a sheet to move it, meansnormally restraining said instrument, means releasing said restrainingmeans, and means eiecting engagement of said instrument with a sheet.

2. A sheet moving instrument, an actuating spring, means normallyrestraining said springactuated instrument, means periodically releasingsaid restraining means, and means timing the action of said instrumentupon a sheet.

3. The combination with a sheet registering gage, a spring actuatedsheet moving instrument, controlling means normally restraining saidinstrument and periodically permitting it to act, and means periodicallyeiecting engagement of said instrument with a sheet.

4. The combination of upper and lower feed rollers movable relativelytoward and away from each other to engage and release a sheet, yieldingdriving means acting upon and imparting the feed movement to one of saidrollers, a gage, means controlling said yielding means, and meanscontrolling the sheet engagement between said rollers.

5. A spring actuated sheet moving instrument, in combination withautomatically controlled restraining means, sheet confining guidingsurfaces, and means effecting engagement of said instrument with asheet.

6. A spring actuated sheet moving instrument, in combination withautomatically controlled restraining means, a sheet arresting gage,sheet conning guiding surfaces, and means for initiating the action ofsaid instrument.

7. The combination with a sheet moving instrument, of stored actuatingpower, means normally restraining said stored power, means periodicallyreleasing said restraining means, and means timing the action of saidinstrument upon a sheet.

8. The combination with a sheet moving instrument, of stored actuatingpower, means normally restraining said power, means periodicallyreleasing said restraining means, means timing the action of saidinstrument upon a sheet, and a sheet registering gage.

9. The combination with a sheet registering gage, a spring actuatedrotary sheet moving roller, controlling means normally restraining saidroller and periodically permitting it to act, and means periodicallyeffecting engagement between said roller and a sheet.

10. The combination of upper and lower feed rollers movable relativelytoward and away from each other to engage and release a sheet, springmeans acting upon and imparting the feed stroke to one of said rollers,a gage, cam means controlling said spring means, and means controllingthe sheet engagement between said rollers.

11. The combination of upper and lower feed rollers movable relativelytoward and away from each other to engage and release a sheet,adjustable spring means acting upon one of said rollers, a gage, a camactuated slide controlling said spring means, a crank pin on saidactuated roller engaged by said slide, and means controlling the sheetengagement between said rollers.

12. A sheet moving instrument having stored spring power adapted tonormally impart sheet moving motion to it, in combination withautomatically controlled restraining means, and means effectingengagement of said instrument With a sheet.

13. A sheet moving instrument having stored spring power adapted tonormally impart sheet 110 moving motion to it, in combination with meansfor initiating the action of said instrument upon a sheet.

14. A sheet moving instrument having stored spring power adapted tonormally impart sheet 115 moving motion to it, in combination with asheet arresting gage and means for initiating the action of saidinstrument.

15. A sheet moving roller having stored spring power adapted to normallyimpart sheet moving 120 motion to it, in combination with a gage, and asheet engaging drop roller for initiating the action upon a sheet.

FRANK L. CROSS.

